Version 10 This Document Describes The Email Message

Summary

Version 1.0
This document describes the Email Message Template Editor feature and provides instructions for
configuring and working with each of its components

This document is intended for tenant admin users

 Appendix A: Do’s and Don’ts of editing HTML messages
 Email Message Best Practices Quick Reference
 Starfish Best Practice Email Templates for EARLY ALERT
 HTML code examples that can be pasted into templates (BasicHTML.txt)
Purpose................................................................................................................................................... 1
Related Resources .................................................................................................................................. 1
About the Email Message Template Editor ............................................................................................. 3
Settings ................................................................................................................................................... 3
Address fields ...................................................................................................................................... 4
Subject Prefix....................................................................................................................................... 5
System Email Header and Footer ......................................................................................................... 5
Snippets .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Create a snippet .................................................................................................................................. 6
Search for snippets .............................................................................................................................. 7
Edit copy or delete snippets ................................................................................................................. 7
Templates ............................................................................................................................................... 8
Create a template ................................................................................................................................ 9
Add Properties ................................................................................................................................. 9
Add Header.................................................................................................................................... 10
Add Message ................................................................................................................................. 11
Template Fields ................................................................................................................................. 12
Insert a field................................................................................................................................... 12
Edit an inserted template field ....................................................................................................... 14
Working with existing templates........................................................................................................ 14
Editable vs. Read Only templates ................................................................................................... 15
Search and filter templates ............................................................................................................ 16
Preview and send sample templates .............................................................................................. 16
Edit, copy or delete templates ....................................................................................................... 17
Advanced Fields .................................................................................................................................... 17
Edit, copy or delete advanced fields ................................................................................................... 20
Appendix A: Dos and Don’ts of editing HTML messages ....................................................................... 22
Copy/Paste ........................................................................................................................................ 22
HTML formatting ............................................................................................................................... 22
Bulleted lists ...................................................................................................................................... 23
Images ............................................................................................................................................... 23
Document Version History .................................................................................................................... 24
© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 2 of 24
The Email Message Template Editor puts the power of highly customizable email messages in your
tenant admin’s hands, replacing the prior method that required you to work through your Starfish
implementation manager when making changes to your email notification templates

This feature is reached via the Message Templates section of the Admin
menu
The Email Message Template Editor includes four components that work
together to allow you to create customized email messages that you can
assign to relevant Starfish activities such as raising tracking items, launching
progress surveys, or making appointments. Each of the following
components is covered in greater detail in its own section of this document:
1. Settings: Global default values for messages sent from Starfish

2. Snippets: Custom reusable text that can be included in templates

3. Templates: Defined message layouts that include at a minimum 1) a
from address, 2) a subject, and 3) a message body. Templates may
also include html links, variable field values (template fields),
snippets or advanced field content

4. Advanced Fields: criteria-based content that can be included in templates

The message template editor allows you to preview and send samples of templates – including those
you’ve created, as well as old templates created by your implementation manager and Starfish default
templates that are included in all Starfish tenants. This functionality is covered in more detail in the
Working with existing templates section

Select Settings from within the Message Templates section of the Admin menu to
display the Configure System Email Settings page

From here you can view and edit the global default settings for your Starfish
system’s email templates. These settings are used for all emails sent from Starfish

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Current values will be displayed in each of the fields presented. Make any desired updates and click the
Save button to update your settings

Changes made here will impact all emails sent from Starfish after the changes have been made. There
may be a brief delay before your changes take effect (a few minutes). See the following sections for
more information on System Email Settings:
 Address Fields
 Subject Prefix
 System Email Header and Footer
Current values for your tenant are displayed in the address fields. You can edit the values to any validly
formatted email address

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These default address values are used on any emails where the individual template does not have its
own value for these fields, or when the template value cannot be used (for example if the flag raiser is
specified as the from address in the template but the template is used with a system-raised flag)

• Default From Email Address is required

• Default Reply-To Email Address is optional, but is useful for specifying a single email address to
handle replies initiated by students or staff to Starfish emails

• Default BCC Email Address is optional and not used frequently at the global level

The current value for Subject Prefix is displayed in this field. This value is optional but is recommended
for identifying and branding notifications coming from your Starfish System

: Use [Subject Prefix] to set the prefix off from the rest of the message subject

This value will be included on all emails sent from Starfish. This prefix cannot be replaced on
a template by template basis

System Email Header and System Email Footer are optional. Current values are displayed, but may be
blank

General formatting (e.g. bold, italic) can be included in your
header and footer. Links to a web page or web image can be
included also

Header or footer content specified here will be included on all emails sent from Starfish. You
cannot replace the system header or footer on individual templates
A snippet is a named block of text that can be included in a message template or
in an advanced field. This can save time and effort if you have repetitive content

Select Snippets from the Message Templates section of the Admin menu to
display the Manage Snippets page

See the following sections for information about how to use the Manage Snippets
page to:
 Create a snippet
 Search for snippets by name or description,
 Edit copy or delete existing snippets

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 5 of 24
1. Click the Create Snippet button. The Create Snippet page is displayed
2. Enter the Name and Description for your snippet. Name is required

Although Description is not required, it is highly recommended to help keep track of the
purpose and contents of each snippet. Both fields are displayed on the Manage Snippets page,
and are included when you use the search feature. They are also displayed in the drop down list
when selecting a snippet to include in an email template

The list of snippets on the Manage Snippets page can be sorted by snippet name

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 6 of 24
3. Enter and format your snippet Contents

Type directly into the Contents text box, or use copy/paste to paste content from another
source. Formatting from another source may be stripped when pasted. See Appendix A for more
tips on editing an HTML message

Use the options in the editing bar (e.g. bold, italics and
underline) to format your text. You can also include links to
a web page or web image address

4. Click the Save button

The new snippet is now available to be included in your templates. Snippets you create will be
listed in alphabetic order by name on the Manage Snippets page

Use the text box on the Manage Snippets page to identify your search criteria

When you click the Search button, the results will include those snippets whose name or description (or
combination of name and description) matches all the words that you entered. If you can’t find the
snippet you are looking for, try reducing the number of search words

You can edit, copy, or delete your snippets using one of the icons listed to the right of the snippet on the
Manage Snippets page

Edit: Use the edit icon to modify an existing snippet

Copy: Use the copy icon to create a copy of an existing snippet that can be edited

Delete: Select the delete icon (x in a circle) to delete a snippet

If you attempt to delete a snippet that is in
use in any templates, you will receive an error
message indicating that you cannot delete the
snippet

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 7 of 24
Hover over the number listed for the snippet in the
“Used in Templates” column to display the names of the
templates that are using the snippet

You will need to edit each of the templates listed to
remove the snippet from within the body of the
template before deleting the snippet itself

A template defines the format and content to be used when
an email is sent from Starfish

As part of feature configuration, you attach templates to
each event that triggers an email

For example, you might attach the “Attendance Concern
Student Template” to the student role on an attendance flag
(illustrated right)

Select Templates from the Message Templates section of the Admin menu to
display the Manage Templates page

See the following sections for more information on how to use the Manage
Templates page to:
 Create a template
 Work with existing templates

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 8 of 24
1. Click the Create Message Template button from the Manage Templates page. This opens the
Properties step of the Create Message Template wizard

2. Select a value for Message Type from the drop down list

The message type defines the type of activity to which you can attach the template. For
example, if you select “Raise Flag” as the type, this template can be used for email notifications
associated with raising a flag. Each template can have only one type

3. Enter the Name for the template. Use a name that will make this template easy to identify
within your template library and one that defines its purpose

: Include the intended recipient roles as part of the name. (E.g. to Student, for
Advisors, Instructor, Staff)
4. Enter the Description for the template. A description is not required, but is highly
recommended

: Use a description that helps you to remember why you created this particular
template/how it is intended to be used. Include in the description things like whose email appears
as the “from” address, whether or not comments are included, or what other fields or snippets it
includes

Both the name and description will be presented to a tenant admin user when selecting
templates to be associated with an item

5. Click the Next button. The Header step of the wizard is displayed

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 9 of 24
6. Update the From and Reply-to email addresses. The email addresses you specified in your global
message template settings will auto populate in their respective fields in the template

You can override those defaults by typing a different email address in the desired field, or by
selecting the Role option from the drop down associated with each address field

When you select Role from the drop down associated with the From field, the text box
associated with this field is replaced with a drop down list that includes available roles from
whom the template could be sent

For example, flag raise templates may be
configured to be sent from the person who
raised the flag, or the instructor associated
with the course related to the flag

Use these options with consideration for their intended use. For example, do not use
the Flag Raiser option for templates that will be attached to system-raised flags; do not use the
instructor option if the template will be used for flags where there may not be a course context, or
where there may be multiple instructors associated with the flagged course

7. Enter a Subject for the template. A subject is required for all templates

The subject you type here will follow the subject prefix set in your message template settings
(visible when you preview the template)

Your subject can include plain text and/ or fields, such as the student name, flag name, or course
name. Click the Insert Field icon ({…}) to add fields. (See the section titled Template Fields)

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8. Click the Next button. The Message step of the wizard is displayed

9. Enter content for the body of your Email Message Template. The message body can include
HTML text and hyperlinks. See Appendix A for more tips on editing an HTML message

Additionally you can include template fields, snippets and advanced fields. Each of these
options has a distinct purpose and workflow:
Template Fields are variables created/ edited as part of each template. Each field can
include prefix and suffix text, and alternative text to be used if the variable is null. Click
the Insert Field icon to select from a list of available fields. Add desired text and insert the
field into your template. (See the Template Fields section for details)

Snippets are created/ edited outside of a template. Snippets provide for reuse of common
content across templates. Click the Insert Snippet icon to select a snippet and insert a
placeholder for the snippet into your template. (See the Snippets section for details)

Advanced Fields are created/ edited outside of a template. Advanced fields allow for
criteria-based content within an email template. Click the Insert Advanced Field icon to
select an advanced field and insert a placeholder for the advanced field into your
template. (See the Advanced Fields section for details)

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 11 of 24
10. Enter content to be used for an SMS Message (text message). If students have opted to receive
Starfish emails via mobile phone, this is the version of the message that will be sent. Template
fields and snippets can be included, but the template should be kept to 140 characters or less

11. Click the Finish button to save your template

Within the subject and body of your email or SMS text message, you can include variable fields such as
the student’s name, tracking item name, or relevant course name

A field in a message template behaves like a mail merge field in a word processor. When a message is
sent using the template, each field will be replaced with appropriate data that is specific to the
individual message. You can customize each field by including:
 a prefix to appear before the field value in your template,
 a suffix to appear after the field value in your template, or
 alternative text to be displayed when the field value is null

1. Click the Insert Field icon. ( ) This opens the field selection dialog page (illustrated below)
where you can select and customize the display of a field

2. Select a field to insert from the list displayed on the left. The fields available are dependent on
the template type selected during template creation (see Add Properties)

When you select a field, it is displayed in the field preview box below the list of fields

© 2013, 2014 Starfish Retention Solutions, Inc. | Proprietary and Confidential Page 12 of 24

The Email Message Template Editor puts the power of highly customizable email messages in your tenant admin [s hands, replacing the prior method that required you to work through your …

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does an email message consist of?

An email message consists of headers and a payload. Headers must be RFC 5322 style names and values, where the field name and value are separated by a colon. The colon is not part of either the field name or the field value.

When is email the appropriate form of communication?

When is email the appropriate form of communication to use? Email is a good way to get your message across when: You need to get in touch with a person who is hard to reach via telephone, does not come to campus regularly, or is not located in the same part of the country or world (for instance, someone who lives in a different time zone).

What is email and how do i use it?

Email is a good way to get your message across when: You need to get in touch with a person who is hard to reach via telephone, does not come to campus regularly, or is not located in the same part of the country or world (for instance, someone who lives in a different time zone). The information you want to share is not time-sensitive.

What is a backup copy of email?

A backup copy of your email is always stored on a server where it can be easily retrieved by interested parties, even when you have deleted the message and think it is gone forever. Your message is emotionally charged or the tone of the message could be easily misconstrued.